The Big Sleep quotes

View Quote Joe Brody: Well, I tapped the old man once six or seven months ago. I figured it might not work twice...Well, she [Vivian] gets around. I figured she might have a thing or two she wouldn't want the old man to know.

View Quote Agnes: [on the phone] Is Harry there?
Marlowe: Yeah, yeah, he's here.
Agnes: Put him on, will you?
Marlowe: He can't talk to you.
Agnes: Why?
Marlowe: Because he's dead. Your little man died to keep you out of trouble.

View Quote Agnes: That's what I always draw. Never once a man who's smart all the way around the course. Never once.
Marlowe: Did I hurt you much, sugar?
Agnes: You and every other man I've ever met.

View Quote Agnes: Well, so long copper. Wish me luck. I got a raw deal.
Marlowe: Your kind always does.

View Quote Brody: [about the Carmen's picture] It fell out of somebody's pocket.
Marlowe: You got an alibi for last night?
Brody: I was right here, with Agnes.
Agnes: Huh!
Marlowe: That's a great witness. OK Joe, you can only die once even for a couple of murders.
Brody: Wait a minute. What do you mean - a couple of murders?
Marlowe: I mean two murders. Where were you about seven thirty last night?
Brody: All right, I was watching Geiger's place...to get something on him.
Marlowe: Try looking at me while you're talking.
Brody: Well, it was raining hard, and I was sitting in my car. There was a car parked out front and another part way down the hill. I was in back.
Marlowe: Who else was back there?
Brody: Nobody. There was a big Packard near where I was so I took a look at it and it was registered to the Sternwoods...Well, then nothing happens so I got tired of waiting and I went home.
Marlowe: Mmm hmm. You know where that Packard is now?...It's in the Sheriff's garage. It was fished out of twelve feet of water off Lido pier early this morning. There was a dead man in it. He'd been zapped. The car was pointed toward the end of the pier and the hand throttle pulled out.
Brody: Well, you can't pin that on me.
Marlowe: I could make an awful good try...You see, the dead man was Owen Taylor, Sternwood's chauffeur. He went up to Geiger's place 'cause he was sweet on Carmen. He didn't like the kind of games Geiger was playing. He got himself in the back way with a jimmy and he had a gun. And the gun went off as guns will, and Geiger fell down dead. Owen ran away taking the film with him. You went after him and got it - how else would you get it?
Brody: All right, you're right. I heard the shots and saw him run down the back steps and into the Packard and away. I followed him. He turned west on Sunset and beyond Beverly he, uh, skidded off the road, and uh, came to a stop. So I came up and played copper. He had a gun, he was rattled, so I zapped him down. I figured the film might be worth something so I took it. That's the last I saw of him.
Marlowe: So you left an unconscious man in a car way out near Beverly someplace and you want me to believe that somebody conveniently came along, ran that car all the way down to the ocean, pushed it off the pier, and then came back and hid Geiger's body.
Brody: Well I didn't.
Marlowe: Somebody did. You wanted time to take over.
Brody: You can't prove I did it.
Marlowe: I don't particularly want to. All I want to do is find out what Geiger had on the Sternwoods.
Brody: Well, uh, maybe you and I can make a little deal?

View Quote Brody: What are you up here for?
Marlowe: To keep her [Vivian] from paying you off and to take the cops off your neck.
Brody: What cops?
Marlowe: The cops who want to find out where all that lead in Geiger's body came from. Look Joe, you shot Geiger.
Vivian: I didn't know that...
Marlowe: The cops don't yet. The trouble is he wasn't alone when you shot him. Either you didn't notice that, and I think you did, or you got scared and ran away. But you had nerve enough to take the film out of the camera. And you had nerve enough to come back later and hide the body...
Agnes: [To Marlowe] You're crazy. [To Joe] Joe...
Brody: Shut up.
Marlowe: So you could clean out Geiger's store before the law knew there was a murder to investigate.
Brody: You take chances, mister. It's lucky for you I didn't shoot Geiger.
Marlowe: Yeah, but you can step off for it just the same, Joe. You're made to order for the rap.
Brody: You think you've got me framed?
Marlowe: Positive.
Brody: How come?
Marlowe: Because somebody will tell it that way. I told ya there was a witness. Now don't go simple on me, Joe.
Brody: You mean Carmen, she would. She'd say anything.
Marlowe: So you have got that picture!
Brody: I guess you think I'm dumb.
Marlowe: Just average for a grafter. You see Joe, either you were there last night, or you got the picture from somebody who was there. You knew Carmen was there because you had your girlfriend here threaten Mrs. Rutledge with the police. Now the only way you could have known enough to do that was by being there and seeing what happened or having the picture and knowing when and where it was taken. That makes sense, doesn't it?

View Quote Canino: Why're you tailin' Marlowe?
Jones: All right, there's no harm tellin'. It's for Joe Brody's girl - she's gotta get out of town. That takes dough. She figured she could get it through Marlowe.
Canino: Why would he pay?
Jones: You know about the night the kid [Lundgren] bumped Brody. Well, the young Sternwood girl was there. Only Marlowe didn't tell the cops that. So Agnes figured it was railroad fare, so she'd get hold of it. You get it?
[Canino pulls his gun]
Canino: Where's the girl [Agnes]? You want me to count three or something, like a movie? You're nervous, ain't ya? Maybe you need a drink...Well drink it! What do you think it is, poison? I'll bet that Agnes of yours wouldn't turn it down.

View Quote Carmen: Can I have my picture now?
Marlowe: No.
Carmen: Can I have my gun back?
Marlowe: Later.
Carmen: You're cute. I like you.
Marlowe: What you see's nothing. I've got a Balinese dancing girl tattooed across my chest.

View Quote Carmen: What does the hat-check girl get for a tip?
Marlowe: I'm trying to think of something appropriate. How did you get in here?
Carmen: Bet you can't guess.
Marlowe: Oh, but I can. You came in through the keyhole like Peter Pan.
Carmen: Who's he?
Marlowe: Hmm. A guy I used to know around a pool room.
Carmen: You're cute.
Marlowe: I'm getting cuter every minute.

View Quote Carmen: You're not very tall, are you?
Marlowe: Well, I, uh, I try to be.
Carmen: Not bad looking. Oh you probably know it.
Marlowe: Thank you.
Carmen: What's your name?
Marlowe: Reilly. Doghouse Reilly.
Carmen: That's a funny kind of name.
Marlowe: You think so.
Carmen: Uh, uh. What are you? A prizefighter?
Marlowe: No, I'm a shamus.
Carmen: What's a shamus?
Marlowe: It's a private detective.
Carmen: You're making fun of me.
Marlowe: Uh, uh.
Carmen: [she leans back and falls into his arms] You're cute.
Marlowe: [to the butler, Norris] You ought to wean her, she's old enough.

View Quote Clerk: Is there something I can do for you?
Marlowe: Would you do me a very small favor?
Clerk: I don't know. It depends on the favor.
Marlowe: Do you know Geiger's bookstore across the street?
Clerk: I think I may have passed it.
Marlowe: Do you know Geiger by sight?
Clerk: Well, I ...
Marlowe: What does he look like?
Clerk: Wouldn't it be easy enough to go across the street and ask to see him?
Marlowe: I've already done that...Do you know anything about rare books?
Clerk: You could try me.
Marlowe: Would you happen to have a Ben-Hur 1860, Third Edition with a duplicated line on page one-sixteen? Or a Chevalier Audubon 1840?
Clerk: Nobody would. There isn't one.
Marlowe: The girl in Geiger's bookstore didn't know that.
Clerk: Oh, I see. You begin to interest me - vaguely.
Marlowe: I'm a private dick on a case. Perhaps I'm asking too much, although it doesn't seem too much to me somehow.
Clerk: Well, Geiger's in his early forties, medium height, fattish, soft all over, Charlie Chan mustache, well-dressed, wears a black hat, affects a knowledge of antiques and hasn't any, and, oh yes, I think his left eye is glass.
Marlowe: You'd make a good cop. [A heavy rain begins to fall, he pulls out a bottle of rye] I'd rather get wet in here.
Clerk: [pulling the shade, letting her hair down, and removing her glasses] It looks like we're closed for the rest of the afternoon.
Marlowe: Hello!

View Quote Female Cabbie: Where are we going?
Marlowe: Followin' a car - a tail job.
Female Cabbie: I'm your girl, bud.
Marlowe: Wouldn't be bad. That station wagon comin' out of the alley. That's the one.
...
Marlowe: Here you are sugar, buy yourself a cigar.
Female Cabbie: If you can use me again sometime, call this number. [She hands him a card]
Marlowe: Day and night?
Female Cabbie: Uh, night's better. I work during the day.

View Quote Librarian: You know, you don't look like a man who'd be interested in first editions.
Marlowe: I collect blondes and bottles too.

View Quote Marlowe: [on the phone] I've got some cold meats set out that might interest ya.
Ohls: What are ya talkin' about?
Marlowe: Did you boys find a gun on Owen Taylor when they fished him out of the drink last night?...If they did, it had three empty shells in it...You come up to 7244 Laverne Terrace off Laurel Canyon Road and I'll show you where the slugs went.

View Quote Marlowe: All right, now that's settled. What's Eddie Mars got on you?
Vivian: So that's the way...
Marlowe: That's the way it is. Kissing is all right. It's nice. I'd like to do more of it. First, I want to find out what Eddie Mars has on you.